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Achieving Educational Excellence Through Faith & Resilience
ISNA MATTERS Achieving Educational Excellence Through Faith & Resilience ISNA hosts 22nd Annual Education Forum — virtual edition
BY THOURAYA BOUBETRA, SUSAN LABADI, AZRA NAQVI AND LAYLA SHATARA
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The 22nd Annual ISNA Education Forum, held April 3-4 in collaboration with the Council of Islamic Schools of North America (CISNA; www.cisnausa. org), focused on “Achieving Educational Excellence Through Faith & Resilience.”
Keynote speaker Habeeb Quadri (educator, administrator, author and youth activist), acknowledging the pivots and educational paradigm changes endured by both schools and their families, urged us to proactively improve our connections to each other and foster a deeper guardianship relationship to students. His second-day presentation detailed skills and prophetic advice for school leaders.
Ustadah Zaynab Ansari (instructor, board member, and scholar-in-residence at Tayseer Seminary), opening the second day, reminded education professionals about true reality and that true success is in our relationship with God. Being mindful of our responsibility toward those whom we teach, we need to refine ourselves.
THE ARABIC TRACK Fadi Abughoush (public school teacher; president, National Arabic Teacher Association) offered his “Games, Apps & Brain Breaks to Keep the Class Moving and Students Engaged!” to share how teachers should keep largely isolated students engaged via breaking the class into small chunks, incorporating games designed to help students physically move, and taking mental breaks to practice speaking it in pairs or small groups. Ustatha Luluah Mustafa (senior Arabic instructor; head of Arabic program, Boston University) shared “Teaching Arabic Remotely: Modification & Assessment.” In it, she highlighted her department’s main pandemic-related changes: reducing the major tests from four to two, using shorter tests and quizzes to evaluate with the single point rubric method, as well as writing multiple positive comments about students’ performances and including one area for improvement in every evaluation. Breakout rooms modeled quick questions that could be asked while allowing students to interact and engage in short discussions.
She also emphasized building strong teacher-student relationships by trying to get to know them better, what topics can/cannot be deleted or modified to assess students’ performances, and to keep them engaged to increase their confidence regardless of their proficiency level.
Dr. Dalia El-Deeb (chair, Nourania Instruction and Certification in North America) presented “How to Enhance Learning of the Holy Qur’an and Adopting its Morals Through Standardizing the Study of Tafseer.” After emphasizing the importance of reading to preserve the proper pronunciation, memorization and tafseer, she analyzed how to conduct a Quran class: begin with talqeen (repeating and mimicking the correct pronunciation) and then explain the signs in the mushaf to help students become independent readers. She provided a wealth of information and tips on enriching the class, and reiterated the need to move students from reading correctly to understanding the Quran by connecting the verses’ meanings, why they were revealed and relate their stories to the students.
Dr. Hanada Taha (endowed professor and director, Arabic Language Center of Research and Development at Zayed University, UAE)
spoke on “Standards-based Instruction in Arabic.” After relating their history and worth, she stated that they don’t change when the curriculum changes and that learning indicators have to be set for each level. She demonstrated how standards shifted teachers’ thinking from measuring success by how much material was covered to how much learning was acquired and how language proficiency had advanced the students’ abilities. In “Keys and Tools for Differentiation in the Arabic Classroom,” 2019 California World Language Teacher of the Year Iman Hashem (STARTALK leader) gave ample examples about the students’ backgrounds, proficiency levels and learning styles, along with strategies to handle a classroom. She also tackled the difference between equity and equality, how each student deserves an equal opportunity to learn, how differentiation is based on students’ needs and how the teacher is duty-bound to plan for potential modifications.
Dr. Talaat Pasha (director, Arabic Language Institute, American Islamic College in Chicago) and Dr. Salah Ayari (instructional professor of Arabic; director of Language Instruction, Texas A&M) used their joint “Weekend Schools: An Integrated Approach to Faculty Preparation and Teaching” to state that most weekend schools’ approaches are based on memorization. Pasha spoke about their main purpose — building a strong Muslim character, as Islam is based on being and doing, not only knowing — as well as the need to reach before teaching, of building strong teacher-student relationships and of teachers being professionally prepared to succeed.
Ayari explained how vocabulary retention becomes much easier when the words are meaningful and purposeful. He provided examples of the integrative approach that coordinates the school’s three main pillars — Islamic studies, the Quran and Arabic — and that teachers can use Arabic words to
teach students how to derive the meanings of new words by using the roots.
THE ISLAMIC STUDIES TRACK The track began with “Smart Phones, Social Media, Internet, Video Games ... How Much is too Much?” with Ahmed Howeedy (chief medical officer, FHE Health), Arfan Qureshi (senior director of talent & organizational development, Campbell Soup Company), and Amir Abdelzaher (principal/instruccalls for a two-pronged approach developing both the student’s heart and intellectual skills. In their “Why Islamic School Renewal Begins with Islamic Pedagogy,” Dr. Nadeem Memon and Dylan Chown (Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, Australia) laid out the foundations of grounding Islamic educational institutions in a pedagogical model comprising a philosophy (aims and objectives), a theory of child development, curriculum, instruction, assessment and cre-
tor, Al-Madina Institute, Istanbul). Their main contention was that the tech industry’s devices and apps are meant to be addictive; however, the brain’s neuroplasticity enables us to break these addictions by using spiritual, purposeful, offline and screen-free activities to build healthy pathways.
Adults should model how to interact with social media and tech devices for children and youth, according to Saad Quadri (teacher, administrator, and consultant at High-Quality Education Consulting) and Sana Mohiuddin’s (therapist at Khalil Center) “Walking the Walk Together: Parents and Teachers Modeling the Way.” The pandemic, they said, has given teachers a great opportunity to see how they can partner with parents to become true models of tarbiya by sharing the role and responsibility of living the character traits they wish to see in children.
Dr. Maryam Razvi Padela’s (educator and researcher) “Towards Building a Resilient Faith: Foundational Concerns About Atheism” shared that people who experience a crisis of faith ‘‘do so during adolescence or young adulthood.” In Islamic schools and Muslim homes, it’s about modeling the behavior expected of children and building trusting, loving and supportive relationships. The research sheds light on four key aspects of a child’s development that contribute to atheism: the need for a strong faith-based foundation, the influence of adult hypocrisy, peer pressure and knowing how to fail. It ating a conducive learning environment. Clearly defining and understanding the Islamic tradition’s educational values, concepts and perspectives is critical to success.
Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy (graduate and instructor, Mishkah University; researcher, Yaqeen Institute), discussed the importance of a healthy relationship between fathers and their family members. Fathers are uniquely responsible, he stated, for paternal authority, affection and financial security. He noted that 64% of suicides happen in fatherless homes and that men “must control … their egos.” While society encourages boys to “toughen up,” the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi was sallam) hugged and kissed his children. Islam encourages strength and endurance, but not at the expense of cultivating affection. Men who feel unappreciated should strive to please God.
THE CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION TRACK Osman Umarji’s (director, Psychospiritual Research and Data Studies, Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research; adjunct professor, School of Education at UC Irvine) “Will My Children Be Muslim? Investigating the Influences on Youth Religiosity” cited that 20% of students raised as Muslim do not identify as a Muslim. Overall, Muslim youth have fewer mental health issues, lower rates of suicide, and a better connection to family than non-Muslim youth. The most critical factor, a healthy parent-child relationship, must be followed up by placing religious and spiritual values over materialism.
Wadud Hassan (co-founder, DEFINE360 [www.define360.online]; pioneer, Islamic Mindfulness and leadership development) and Susan Labadi (certified character coach; advisor to DEFINE360; board member, CISNA, American Halal Council, and American Muslim Consumer Consortium; Genius School Inc.), led a double session on “Building a Resilient School Through Prophetic Compassion.” In it, they explored the interrelated components of inner calm, emotional resilience and cognitive resilience. Attendees refined their understanding of compassion from neuroscience as well as a prophetic referenced practice, and how it can help one handle stress and trials.
Qur’an Shakir (certified Jegna, master educator and guide) used her “The Joy of Learning” to inform attendees that many Muslim children feel dread and sadness when going to school and that it’s a sin to associate such a reality with Islam. Also, many children don’t want to be with adults because they kill purpose and drive via their own negativity. In mastering our own cultivation of joy, thirst for knowledge and desire to be with God, we must strive to model the positive relationship we hope for them.
Ivana Zajkovska’s (product manager, ISNA Youth Development; MYNA advisor) “Positive Youth Development” related the need for head-heart alignment to support lowering risk behaviors. In a study of 2,500 schools conducted during the 90s and 2000, later generation youth were found to explore fewer of the 40 recognized assets to foster positive development than in previous generations. She detailed the importance of external (support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time) and internal (a commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and a positive identity) assets.
Sophia Jetpuri Naviwala (Al-Fatah Academy, Atlanta; programs director, ISLA) inspired and renewed the desire to teach like a master in “Technology Metamorphosis: The Butterfly Effect” by offering insights and tools for educators to explore. A trainer with the Islamic Speakers Bureau, she has built a training program with Awareness Through Mosque Tourism, spearheaded the ISLA Leadership Academy and provides ongoing professional development for educators to use the latest technology to improve their connection to students.
